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Campaign: An Immortal Problem
The campaign taking place shortly after the fall of the Veil, during which a group of real heroes get up to innumerable shenanigans... and maybe a bit of real politicking besides. But really, matchmaking is their true calling. Starting Date: 3rd Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 Starting Location: Samara, Kondaria Characters * Caid Albrecth: A human magus from Phynta who left behind his past and his family to the sands of the desert in favor for a less questionable livelihood, worshiping the lost god, Eramus. * Direshas Bluntclaw: A catfolk sorcerer from Sel Teki who has a healthy appetite, indomitable charisma and a frenetic, never ceasing tendency to simply be in motion. * Thrayven Half-Dwarven: A vertically challenged individual from the North whose training lead him away from his homeland in hopes that he and his mount Dwerkinglorkin might learn more of the world so as to understand it and better protect the North when he returns. * Zelius Alfinsouix: A high elven priest from the Mireny Imperium whose devotion to his beloved Ailerion is matched only by his zeal for telling people, "let me tell you about my lord and savior, the god of justice." Timeline A Typical Tomb (Session 1) 3rd Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * Party meets at inn in Samara, all four being hired on by a representative of Kondaria, Riston Smythe, who is in charge of handling the calls by the Kondarian crown for adventurers to come and explore lost ruins in the country. * The party travels some hours north into the wilds to what was described to them as a recently uncovered burial tomb. Within, the party uncovers a number of stone carved coffins of late nobles, looting their findings. During which a stray kobold attempts, unsuccessfully, to stab one of them in the leg. He scurries off and the party pursues. Deeper inside, they find a group of kobolds, slaying some and subduing others. ** They acquire two metal boxes which the kobolds had. ** Direshas pan fries some darkmantle eggs. * The party discovers a room with two statues, one of Lynneth and another of Noir, though Noir's statue has given way to the age of time and has shattered due to shoddy tomb-building. After some searching, they uncover two medallions, each with a sigil of the named gods. Continuing on, they discover the remaining kobolds in a room with four statues, each one carved to look like one of the remaining six Divinities. Swiftly wiping up the kobolds there, the party collects six more medallions. Moving on to a final chamber, they find yet another collection of statues, those these bear the appearance of the Primordial Gods, including one which bears very little tooling or work, but whose imagery Caid correctly determines is Eramus. * Additionally, the party discovers that the plinth at the back of the room is active with magic power and, upon being touched, it teleports Thrayven away... ** To a plane of fine silver dust which he immediately begins to attempt to scoop into a pouch for later appraisal. When challenged by a plain looking man, Thrayven offers to arm wrestle him for it, which ends with his utter defeat when the man swings Thryaven's arm down as if he were a newborn babe and introduces himself as the demigod of warriors, Worhatad. Worhatad explains that, if Thrayven is willing to accept, he would ask him to resolve a plot attempting to allow Nalcer access to the prime material. He does. * Thrayven returns and the party learns that placing additional medallions in the hands of their respective gods or goddesses relights the plinth... ** Allowing Direshas to be greeted by the goddess most commonly associated with catfolk, Adenah, who offers the catkin power for the same quest as offered Thrayven. ** Allowing Zelius to meet perhaps not the party he wished, seeking his worshiped Ailerion, but by his son and intermediary, Noir, who speaks for his father and offers the same quest to rend Nalcer incapable of returning. ** And allowing Caid to speak with Eramus, the lost god, who also offers the same quest and answers a few of Caid's questions on the nature of fate and time. * The party gathers their findings and captured kobolds and take their leave of the tomb. A Match Made in Heaven (Session 2) 3rd Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * The party camps a distance from the ruins and discuss what to do with their kobold prisoners. * As the party sleeps, they dream of audiences with their gods, with Zelius actually speaking with Ailerion this time, and wake with knowledge of new abilities. 4th Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * They resolve to let the creatures go, finding no success in trying to talk them down and leaving them bound, but with means to free themselves. * The party opens the metal boxes and find a collection of esoteric and ancient tombs, as well as a hidden compartment containing writings concerning the Immortal Nalcer and a medallion similar to the ones they found with the Immortal's sigil. * The party returns to Samara and seek the local branch of the church to dispose of the obviously evil items. They leave the book and medallion with the priests there. * Return to the inn and collect their money from Riston and retire for the night. 5th Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * Caid is woken from an out of breath acolyte, whom he quickly turns into a stammering mess when he answers the door half dressed. He is still able to discern that there has been some kind of attack on the church over night. * The party hurries to the church, finding that a number of the clergy has been murdered with no clear culprit. When questioned by the guards, they take offense when the nominal guard captain begins to implicate that they might be behind the deed. * The growing tension between inept guard captain and offended party grows up until the point that a young wizard enters the church and takes over the investigation. He introduces himself as Airik Sandsong and questions the party personally. After determining the party's innocence, he has the Nalcer-branded items retrieved and requests that the party take them to Elderfort, the capital, to an acquaintance of his to be destroyed. The party accepts when Airik mentions payment. * They purchase a scroll of teleport and do some additional shopping. Forgoing the noble deed of walking, the party teleports directly to the capital itself. * They arrive in a central area in Elderfort for teleportation traffic and after some asking around find that Airik's address is shared with that of his acquaintance. They knock on the door and are greeted by a sour-toned, short-mannered woman with glasses. She introduces herself Laithe Mires. Along with explaining Airik's request and, more or less, forcing their way into the poor wizard's house, there is much questioning and drilling about why Laithe is occupying Airik's house. The party determines that there must be some kind of relationship going on and make it their not-so-god-given quest to match the two up, since they are clearly in love and just don't know it yet. Laithe returns as the party simply begin to make themselves at home in Airik's house and asks, dryly, what the party did with the second Nalcer medallion. When answered that they have no second medallion, Laithe explains that it can not be destroyed because it is pair-bonded with a second medallion identical to it. She is able to determine that is in Phynta, and while she can not determine the exact location she can have it pull in the direction of its matching partner, as if like a compass. * This location poses a problem for the party, as Caid knows that entering Phynta at the moment is difficult for regular adventuring traffic. After listening to the party hem and haw for a bit, Laithe directs them simply to follow her and she sets off without waiting. They are guided through Elderfort to the noble's district and walk unchallenged through the gates of the Kondarian palace. Laithe takes them to a back entrance and up a disused stairwell and enters a private chamber... * ...Whereupon she is greeted as cousin to the crowned king of the realm, Cale Lionyia, who then looks rather taken aback by the sudden company of four rag-tag adventurers whom Laithe walked right past all the palace security. After some explaining, the party acquirers a writ of passage from Cale, naming the four of them as merchants of his realm and allowing them passage on a Kondarian merchant galley to Phynta. The party inquires about payment and Cale directs them to seek Airik. * The party returns to Airik's house and spends the night while waiting for Laithe to prepare the medallion so that it will pull towards it pair. 6th Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * With the medallion tugging gently southward and a new box to ward its evil aura, they purchase another scroll of teleport and return to Samara. * There, they speak again with Airik, who seems reluctant part with another portion of his funding. Direshas suggests that he give them writs for half now, half upon their return of the deed done. Airik accepts and the party leaves 20,000 gold richer and with another writ for another 20,000 gold upon their return. They also question the wizard as to his relationship with Laithe, reaffirming that he is pining away for the dour maiden that watches over his house and reaffirming their goal to see the two wed. * The group then tracks down the merchant galley, the Jovial Dancer, that their writ of passage proclaims the nominal merchants of. There seems to have been an understanding between the captain of the ship and the king, as the captain is quick to identify them as regular adventurers and seems to be aware of their need to enter the desert country. He informs them that they will depart the next morning. High Seas and Shimmering Sands (Session 3) 7th Green-Rapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * The party boards the merchant galley and sets out. * Direshas is stuck by the realization that they will be at open seas, surrounded by water, for quite some time. The catfolk resolves to drown their anxieties in a fair amount of grog, imbibing a fair deal more than a regular sailor's worth and earning a regular, if ineffective, guard for the trouble. 8th to 21st Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * Traveling to Semut, Phynta. 22nd Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * Attacked on the high seas by the pirate vessel, the Hornet, and the captain who calls herself the Sea Wasp... up until the point that Thrayven manages his way above decks and skewers the lady wholesale through the abdomen. After a bit of faltering posturing, the rest of the pirates back down from the party's combined threats and the party captures the Hornet for themselves. Below decks they find a prisoner, who proclaims himself Lawrence Grey, the former captain of the pirate vessel and the Heir of Gostard... the nominal pirate king, which the party is quick to dismiss. Nevertheless, the party reinstates him as captain for now and the party commandeers the ship. 23rd to 28th Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 * Traveling to Semut, Phynta. 29th Greenrapture, Eras Reunited 3,206 *The party arrives in Semut. They successfully pass themselves off as merchants, fooling the port authority. The captain and crew of the Jovial Dancer sell their wares and begin their everyday routine at port while the party ventures into Semut to gather information about the region they might be headed. They eventually return and take their new ship along the coast north. 30th Greenrapture to 1st Fireglory, Eras Reunited 3,206 * Traveling to north along the coast. 2nd Fireglory, Eras Reunited 3,206 * The party lands, instructing captain Lawrence to sail out to ocean but back into the coast every few days to wait for them. They threaten him that they will hunt him down and kill him should he reclaim the ship as his own and return to a life of pirating. * The party ventures nearly a full day across the scrub lands of the coast into the proper desert of Phynta, following the direction the medallion pulls. They eventually spot a small oasis only slightly off from their path and go to scout it. The oasis is home to a very newly hatched clutch of blue dragon wyrmlings, only one of which survived. The party engages in combat with it and readily kill and skin the small dragonet. * With the day coming to a close, the party camps there at the oasis. Mummies Exist, Thrayven (Session 4) 3rd Fireglory, Eras Reunited 3,206 * The party wakes and continues across the desert. Eventually, in the distance, they spot a rise of mountains and a near sheer cliff face into which is built what looks like a temple or tomb of Phyntan architecture, though Caid can determine it is fairly ancient. Growing closer to the structure, the party notices what looks like a small camp and party of humanoids around the entrance of the tomb. They approach cautiously. * And with good reason, because the short conversation they trade with the humans quickly turns sour and the party charges into battle when it becomes clear that the tomb raiders are warriors of the Byden Dominion and their laborers are slaves. The ensuing combat threatens the lives of these aforementioned slaves, though they are readily dispatched by Thrayven and Caid as Zelius and Direshas move into the entrance of the tomb, after the fleeing warriors and quickly dispatch the remaining stragglers. * Quiet, save for the babbled thanks of the freed slave laborers, settles over the tomb. The party questions the slaves and learns that they know only that they were recent purchases and that they were ordered to excavate. They inform the party there are more warriors within with their leader and some other slaves. In the camp of the warriors they find very little, only basic traveling and camping means, though Direshas helps themself to a questionable portion of pie of questionable ingredients. * The party explores the beginnings of the tomb, deliberating over whether or not they should activate the statues of their god patrons now or after clearing out the enemies within. They decide to wait, moving past the statues and into the tomb. Their explorations lead them through a large door into a central antechamber which they move around in a circle. They forgo exploring the offshoot hallways to begin with, fully exploring this antechamber. * Coming to where a portion of the floor has fallen out, Direshas goes to investigate, discovering a crack in the bass of a room in the middle of this central chamber. The sorcerer decides to scurry up this shaft and pokes their head out in the floor of this room. Within, a falcon-headed hieracosphinx locks eyes with Direshas... and lets out a loud, angry screech and lunges at the catfolk, thus affirming its position with the party that it is the worst sphinx. Much yelling and confusion ensues as Direshas is both pulled and crawls back down the shaft and the party finds and triggers the secret door leading into the room. The sphinx lays into the group before ending up, as all things, on the end of a lance. They explore this central room and uncover three sarcophagi, looting the remains of the tomb and taking the heads of three mummies entombed there in hopes they could question the dead later. They also find that the hieracosphinx has three sphinx eggs and the party collects those. * Continuing to explore, they find a hallway off the main antechamber and move down it, finding the corpse of what looks like a slave at a turn in this pathway. They determine and find a secret door there, but leave it for later when they determine that that is their ultimate goal based on the pull of the medallion. Exploring more, they find set of sarcophagi, one of which is entombed behind a secret wall and beyond which the party (besides Thrayven) decide is a mummy. Instead of facing the creature head on, they burn it to ash from beyond the safety of the wall and then move in to second of the sarcophagi, looting readily and adding to their macabre mummy head collection. * The party makes another full sweep and determines that they have three routes that they have yet to explore. Instead of wisely remaining in a group, the party splits up, with Caid and Zelius taking each a hallway on the left of the temple and Thrayven taking the one on the right, near the slave's corpse. Direshas elects to remain in the antechamber and the develop the plan of: if anything happens, run back to the middle of the temple... The First Scar (Session 5) 3rd Fireglory, Eras Reunited 3,206 * ...And so the party sets off on their various paths. * Caid turns into a small room with a sarcophagus set on a raised platform, though there are no ready enemies to face. * Thrayven moves down a turning hallway which opens into a large room and a split of a canyon open to the sky above it. Hieroglyphs decorate this canyon wall and a statue of Nalcer bound in chains and the bodies of multiple slaves. More importantly, a slew of Dominion warriors keep guard around the canyon and one particularly important lizardfolk standing and keeping at knifepoint over a bound dwarf. With a split second decision, Thrayven and his rhinoceros leap across the shallow gorge of the canyon, collect the dwarven prisoner and then leap back away to safety, much to the sudden shock and confusion of the Dominion fighters. * Zelius explores his route and finds a small room much like the one the mummy the party burnt to a crisp was in... but more importantly is suddenly laid into by scorpions. Zelius, in true testimony to the "if anything happens, run back to the middle of the temple" plan, lets out a yell and lays back into the scorpions then and there. * Caid and Direshas hear Zelius's exclamation, with Caid rushing back to the central room, though Zelis fails to show up. About that time, Thryaven shows back up with the dwarven prisoner in tow and informs the party that a large group if angry warriors are behind him. Direshas uses this opportunity to cast an illusion of a gold dragion looking down the hallway where Thrayven came out. * Zelius remembers himself and hurries back to the central room, scorpions in tow... * And then the Dominion warriors skid to a halt as most of them, save for the very brave few, are faced with what seems to them a gold dragon filling the central chamber. The lizardfolk moves forward to attack while the party simultaneously begins to dispatch scorpions at their rear and warriors down the length of the chamber. A few warriors seem to consider taking a secret passage to flank the party, but it doesn't work out well for them, and only a few of them even seem willing to take on the gold dragon and the attacks of the party simultaneously, especially with Direshas making their own attacks look like that of the dragon's. * The battle swiftly takes a turn for the worst for the Dominion fighters see their lizardfolk commander fall. One stalwart individual refuses to surrender, but the party eventually capture a pair of them who attempt to flee. Corralling them, they charge their rescued slaves with keeping an eye on them while they explore the rest of the temple. * In the fray and after, the captured dwarven prisoner introduces himself as Tait Sternforge and names himself a scholar from the Atia Confederacy, the southern dwarf civilization. He states that he was likely captured because he knows a fair deal about the Empire of Dust and the Sun-sand Brotherhood, ancient Phyntan civilizations that once inhabited the area. He accompanies the party within, being well versed in the hieroglyphs. * In the room Zelius discovered they collect the head of yet another mummy, and in the room that Caid discovered, they dispatch a hostile mummy and collect its head as well. On the corpse of the lizardfolk warrior they find a note which reads: "Avranth, from note. -- M. W." * They then move into the large room that Thrayven found and have Tait study the hieroglyphs on the wall. Tait determines that the temple was in mid construction with they discovered this area and that the architects of the age erected the statue as a means of magically sealing the evil within this canyon. The party also discovers that the statue itself is the target for the medallion's pull... and some poking around and searching leads them to discover a second medallion set within the mouth of the statue. They take turns trying to pull it out, with Direshas having both arms go numb for their efforts, until Zelius pulls the second medallion out of the statue... * ...And like a cork was pulled from a bottle, the canyon and temple begin to shake and tremble. Booking it, the party rushes for the entrance of the temple as an unholy cacophony of shifting rock and sand begin to wreck the site. Realization strikes them as they flee... they have not yet used the statues of the Divinites at the entrance. Scrambling in the chaos and from the lack of proper statues to three of the gods which the party would speak, most select medallions at random. ** Direshas speaks with Adenah and asks for more information. The catfolk learns that the medallions can be used, rather than destroyed, as divining rods to track down exact locations of further Scars, landmarks or wounds in the world left by Nalcer turn his fight with Derron Mitharien that the Immortal is attempting to use as a connection and means of return to the material plane. Adenah explains there are nearly a dozen of such sites but that destroying half will probably do to sever Nalcer's remaining connection. ** Zelius speaks with Noir and learns the same information, learning also that the Scars of Nalcer can be tapped into and used for a source of power. ** Caid, for lack of a medallion and statue to Eramus, grabs one marked for the goddess of death at random. Ending up in the goddess's plane, Lynneth expresses bemused confusion but seems content from her conversation with Caid to forward him on to Eramus's domain. There, Caid also learns the same information but also that the Dominion has harnessed a Scar for their own gain. ** Lastly, Thrayven picks a medallion at random as well, ending up on an oceanic plane and home of the sea god, Nairen. After some convincing, Nairen quietly forwards Thrayven to Worhatad's domain, where the squat warrior learns the same as the rest of the party... and also that their new companion, Tait, knows more about the Scars than he lets on. * Returning to the moment, the party rushes out of the temple as it collapses. The party questions Tait at Thrayven's revelation and the dwarf finally admits that he has made something of a study Nalcer, which is likely why he brought here given the party's revelation that this was the first of a dozen Scars. They convince him to come with them with some effort, as he explains that being known as a scholar with that specialty often gets one strange looks. * They also question the Dominion warriors, but get very little of use out of them, only that this was their trial run to be initiated into the Wraths of Raneiss. Dungeoned-out, the party collects their belongings, their prisoners and their new slaves in the old camp of the Dominion warriors and rests. 4th Fireglory, Eras Reunited 3,206 * The party wakes in the morning and sets out across the desert the way they came. Thryaven tracks out a bit of distance and locates the camels that the Dominion used to travel out here. With that, the party moves overland swiftly, finally returning to the oasis they found on their initial journey. * The place has been claimed over the course of the two days by a nomadic group of catfolk, one of the tribes of the Painted Sand. After some introductions and explanations, they are invited to make camp at the oasis again for the night. From South to North (Session 6)